Georgia Lawmaker Equates Gays With Criminals, 'Unrepentant' Drug Dealers

Bobby Franklin, a Republican state representative from Georgia, said this week that letting gays serve openly in the military was the "same thing" as allowing "unrepentant drug dealer[s]" into its ranks.

In an interview with the Marietta Daily Journal, Franklin also suggested that he believes gays are engaged in "unrepentant criminal behavior."

"The Bible says it's a capital offense," Franklin said during a discussion about homosexuality and the December repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. "You want someone with unrepentant criminal behavior? And it's not just that, neither should adulterers, neither should thieves, neither should a lot of things. The church is full of sinners, but we're told in 1st Corinthians it rattled off the homosexual, the adulterer, the thief, the liar, and such were some of you, but you've been washed, you've been justified and so forth. It's not what you were. You're not punishing a thought. But do you want an unrepentant drug dealer in the military? Same thing."

Equating homosexuality to "criminal behavior" akin to drug dealing is just the latest controversial comment from Franklin, who has repeatedly drawn criticism on similar grounds. Last week, HuffPost's Amanda Terkel reported on a particularly contentious piece of legislation introduced by Rep. Franklin, which sought to replace the term "victim" with "accuser" when dealing with cases of rape, stalking and domestic violence.

Comments

[Anaxamenes]

03:25 PM on 03/08/2011

Oh I missed the part of the constitution where citizens are required to repent for other peoples opinions of their lives.

[rolfruben]

11:49 AM on 03/04/2011

A sure bet is that as soon as the level of indignation reaches a certain temperature, any raving and ranting biblical scholar is soon charged with soliciting under-age apprentices in a tutu.

[charlesdickens]

01:09 AM on 03/03/2011

The bible says; the bible says....what pain has been caused by these words.

[liberal123]

02:40 PM on 03/01/2011

Some of his other positions/­­legislati­o­n include (I'm not making this up): a state bill to prevent local ordinances prohibitin­g the raising of chickens and goats in your back yard, a bill to require state transactio­­ns to be conducted in gold and silver, support of the birther position, opposition to drivers licenses, opposition to mandatory vaccinatio­­n during pandemics, and abortion opposition­­. He believes that the US has adopted all 10 points of the Communist Manifesto, has sponsored legislatio­­n to make clay the offical state dirt of Georgia, and refuses to reveal his age because he fears identity theft. He is considered unhinged even by Georgia republicans.

[joelb5000]

12:22 PM on 03/01/2011

The original 1st Corinthians didn't mention "homosexuals." If you're smart, you know the very term wasn't coined until the last century when the medical community acknowledged that a person didn't just engage in certain sexual behavior on a whim, but rather because they had that sexual orientation.

On on the topic of the Bible, don't tell me that being gay is a capital offense unless you're going to acknowledge that children talking back to their parents was also a capital offense, and I don't recall a politician recently calling for that to be enforced.

[brandonslayton]

01:20 AM on 03/07/2011

yep

[Blake Alverson]

05:51 PM on 02/28/2011

What I can never understand is how people like Hon. Rep. Franklin justify calling for limited government & calling for religious fundamentalism simultaneously. In my mind the two (limited government & fundamentalism) are mutually exclusive. I guess others disagree: from Hon. Rep. Franklin's state website: "Representative Franklin has been called "the conscience of the Republican Caucus" because he believes that civil government should return to its biblically and constitutionally defined role."

[yukitotomo]

04:50 PM on 02/28/2011

According to the Bible being a rape victim (not accuser) in a city is also a capital offense (because obviously unless she wanted it somebody would have stopped it and we have to kill all those evil women with all that evil sexuality).

[claysparrow]

02:02 PM on 02/28/2011

disgusting. why is anyone taking this guy seriously? we can argue all day about gay rights, but attacking rape victims? not ok.

[SeaMastr]

10:26 PM on 02/24/2011

who is running against him when he runs for re-election? I PROMISE to contribute to his opponent, even if they Dems run a guy equally repulsive, assuming they can find one.

[talkstocoyotes]

08:57 AM on 02/19/2011

It isn't surprising that Mr. Bobby made these allegations. After all, it's practically compulsory for religious homophobes who "don't hate homosexuals" to routinely make statements like 'after all, homosexuality is no worse a sin than [lying, problem drinking, drug addiction, adultery, arson, you name it.] And they even think they're being "compassionate." Mr. Bobby was just an echo for a big chunk of his constituents.

[LintLass]

03:46 PM on 02/17/2011

Insane.

[inARCTICulate]

08:21 PM on 02/16/2011

I generally avoid pipple
who use the REPENT.
Unless it's followed by the words 'the kitchen'.

[nofriendofrepublicans]

06:56 PM on 02/16/2011

I got news for you Skippy, I was in the Army from '71-'74. There were plenty of "unrepentant" drug dealers serving then.

[Vicky F]

10:01 AM on 02/25/2011

I'll vouch for that! I was an army brat in HS then.

[hypnotoad72]

04:34 PM on 02/16/2011

The Bible is a self-contradictory piece of badly written fiction.  Or well-written metaphor, meaning anyone taking it literally has "issues", shall we say...

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html
(there are dozens of thoughtful articles on this issue alone.)

The Bible also talks of eating shellfish as a sin, and what the Bible says to do to adulterers...  I wonder if Franklin has had even a single divorce or coveted someone else's wife...

But it's not about faith.  It's petty grandstanding and fiddling with wedge issues because they are unable or unwilling to address the real issues (e.g. economy, middle class, opportunities, and freedom).  He's not worth our country's time.

[Vicky F]

07:53 AM on 02/25/2011

Republicans are giving true Christian followers a BAD NAME! Please don't confuse the two as being the same.

[Smiley Blogs]

12:48 PM on 02/16/2011

The Bible says it's a capital offense," Franklin said during a discussion about homosexuality...

I find that interesting for the Bible speaks noth'n About Homosexuals! Also why Is the Bible being used against Humans sexuality? What does Sexuality got to do with Religion? lmao Not everything Is religion not race or sexuality! \Its Faith! - Christians believers some are lost like this Dude!